The Demon-Haunted World

Posted on 22 November 2017 by Carl Sagan

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology driven lives if we don t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science Pulitzer Prize winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well being of our democratic institutions.Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs And yet, disturbingly, in today s so called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms. Free Read [ The Demon-Haunted World ] by [ Carl Sagan ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr I sit before my computer, typing out a review of what is my favorite book I m daunted by the magnitude of this task, having just finished the book for the fourth or maybe fifth time I wish I could remember when I bought this book, likely close to a decade ago, but I m sure that I must have been awestruck to discover a book written by a man who has influenced my life and my interests to such a great extent.One of the great memories of my early life was that of waiting to plop down in front of t I sit before my computer, typing out a review of what is my favorite book I m daunted by the magnitude of this task, having just finished the book for the fourth or maybe fifth time I wish I c... , , , ,, , , , Cosmos 1980 500 60 , , 1996 , ,, , , , , , , , ,,, ,, , 1828 ,,, ,, ,, ,, ,,, ,, , , , ,, , , , , 1848, , , , 1671 , , , 2% 5 , , , , , , , ,20 , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , , , ,, , 95% , , , 43% 38% , 9...Always insightful, it seems that Sagan just wanted to watch the world learn I should ve read this at 14 Honestly, this should probably be required high school reading for everyone It illustrates clearly the many and varied personal and societal benefits gained from applying the methods of science to every corner of our thinking The methods are the important part, the findings are just icing on the cake It covers the dangers of unchecked ideologies and the requirement for both objectivity an Always insightful, it seems that Sagan just wanted to watch the world learn I should ve read this at 14 Honestly, this should probably be required high school reading for everyone It illustrates clearly the many and varied personal and societal benefits gained from applying the methods of science to every c...I miss Carl Sagan.Ever since I was a kid, Carl Sagan has been the face of science for me I would watch Cosmos and feel a sense of amazement that the universe was as wonderful as it was He d be there in his turtleneck and his blazer, smiling as though he d just heard the coolest secret and he wanted to share it with you And he did, except that it wasn t his secret Hell, it wasn t a secret at all it was the combined results of thousands of years of thoughts, deductions, mistakes, missteps, e I miss Carl Sagan.Ever since I was a kid, Carl Sagan has been the face of science for me I would watch Cosmos and feel a sense of amazement that the universe was as wonderful as it was He d be there in his turtleneck and his blazer, smiling as though he d just heard the coolest secret and he wanted to share it with you And he did, except that it wasn t his secret Hell, it wasn t a secret at all it was the combined results of thousands of years of thoughts, deductions, mistakes, missteps, experiments, accidents and achievements Whether he was talking about the orbits of the planets or the genetics of peas, you could feel an almost palpable sense of wonder coming from him You d listen to him and think, Y know, maybe we humans aren t too bad after all Then the smile would fade, his eyes would get serious, and he would explain how, for all our achievements as a species, humans were still terribly fallible creatures Our knowledge has, perhaps,...This is a marvelous book about the consequences of a population being scientifically illiterate There are numerous consequences, all of them bad Most notably, the growth of superstitious beliefs can lead to terrifying witch hunts that grow and grow, leaving a broad trail of torture, execution, mass hysteria and paranoia Interestingly, Carl Sagan holds up science and democracy as mutually supporting conc...Hey, so, guess what People who read the Weekly World News are stupid, but scientists are awesome Did you know that I just put this book down, 175 pages in It s not that I disagree with the thesis, because I actually don t at all Sagan uses the widespread belief in alien abductions to talk about the need forcritical thinking in this world And I m totally there yes, for the love of God, teach people to distinguish between fact and what they want to be fact But Sagan goes on and o Hey, so, guess what People who read the Weekly World News are stupid, but scientists are awesome Did you know that I just put this book down, 175 pages in It s not that I disagree with the thesis, because I actually don t at all Sagan uses the widespread belief in alien abductions to talk about the need forcritical thinking in this world And I m totally there yes, for the love of God, teach people to distinguish between fact and what they want to be fact But Sagan goes on and on and on about the evils of unexamined credulity, and how so...Sagan has been a hero of mine since I saw Cosmos years and years ago Now that was one of the truly great science documentaries and one that, on the subject of physics, has rarely been bettered.This is a supurb book Many people say things like, I ve no idea how people without a belief in the supernatural can bare to live in this world Well, Sagan gives a powerful answer here Sagan understood the infinite joy that comes from understanding something about the world something that is real H Sagan has been a hero of mine since I saw Cosmos years and years ago Now that was one of the truly great science documentaries and one that, on the subject of physics, has rarely been bettered.This is a supurb book Many people say things like, I ve no idea how people without a belief in the supernatural can bare to live in this world Well, Sagan gives a powerful answer here Sagan understood the infinite joy that comes from understanding something about the world something that is real He feared for our future, particularly in a modern world brimming with nuclear weapons when so many people know nothing at all about science In this sense Sagan turns the standard argument on its head, rather than faith based beliefs offering comfort, they actually present a series of demons and therefore make your life a m.... If Richard Dawkins The God Delusion is a nuclear bomb in the atheist arsenal, Carl Sagan s The Demon haunted World is an anti personnel mine.Where Dawkins goes for maximum destruction, piling the misery and mockery on those he s battling, Sagan doesn t even acknowledge his enemy The Demon haunted World poses, instead and very effectively , as a book in defense of skepticism, a book persuading the unskeptical to embrace reason in the form of open mindedness, the pursuit of evidence, and a thir If Richard Dawkins The God Delusion is a nuclear bomb in the atheist arsenal, Carl Sagan s The Demon haunted World is an anti personnel mine.Where Dawkins goes for maximum destruction, piling the misery and mockery on those he s battling, Sagan doesn t even acknowledge his enemy The Demon haunted World poses, instead and very effectively , as a book in defense of skepticism, a book persuading the unskeptical to embrace reason in the form of open mindedness, the pursuit of evidence, and a thirst for asking questions of everything.To this end, Sagan takes on some of his favourite topics witch burning, demonic possession, science illiteracy, repressed memories, psycholo...Full disclosure here, I did not finish this book I made the decision to stop reading it after around 100 pages I kept expecting the science to start at any page, but I got tired of reading accusations that the Weekly World News and Beavis and Butt Head are sources of ignorance and misunderstanding I won t argue that either of these are intellectual, but at best these are forms of entertainment and that is largely a product of taste, not intellect I couldn t risk wasting my time reading anoth Full disclosure here, I did not finish this book I made the decision to stop reading it after around 100 pages I kept expecting the science to start at any page, but I got tired of reading accusations that the Weekly World News and Beavis and Butt Head are sources of ignorance and misunde...

English
22 November 2017

Carl Sagan